Daughter For A Summer
by hallow777
Summary: Alexis' summer program isn't all that it's cracked up to be and she wants to go home but, Castle is being held hostage in the Hamptons by Gina, and Martha is off doing her own thing. So who does she call?
1. Plotting to Escape

**AN: Yes, I couldn't resist any longer! I had to do a finale fic! Wait! Don't push the back button yet! It is not your normal finale fic! I'm pretty sure that no one else has done a fic like this though I haven't read all of them so I am not completely sure about that. When the finale went off I wanted to just start writing but I couldn't function enough to do so. By the time I could actually think straight, all the ideas I had had already been done lol! So I eventually thought about this one but decided against doing it but I was _trying _to write for Kate's Choice but this idea suddenly popped back up and would not leave me alone. So here you go.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

Kate Beckett stood still and watched as Castle walked away, hand and hand with his ex wife. It took a minute for the shock to wear off, but then one slim eyebrow was inching it's way up her forehead and she was walking back to her desk.

_I can't believe I was surprised by that. After all, newly realized feelings aside, it is still Richard Castle, playboy extraordinaire, we are talking about here._

She sat down at her desk and picked up a file, intending to finish some paper work on it, before realizing that she was already off duty and had no reason to still be doing paperwork.

"I decided not to take a vacation, so I'll see you guys in the morning."

Kate didn't wait for an answer before heading home. That was a good thing though, since no one knew what to say to her after watching that scene, and her lack of a reaction to it.

* * *

It was only nearing seven when Kate left the precinct so she stopped by one of her favorite Chinese takeout places and bought dinner for herself. While waiting for her food to be prepared, and during the drive to her apartment, she had plenty of time to think on everything that had happened today.

_I finally let myself realize that he wormed his way into my life and maybe, just maybe, we could be more than friends. Then he rides off into the sunset with his ex-wife… I suppose it is sort of my fault for waiting so long though. But if, no, _when_ he comes back, just what am I going to do about all this?_

* * *

"Kate."

"Good morning to you too, Lanie."

"Pssh, like you ever say good morning to me when you want to know something…"

Lanie waited until Kate stopped typing on the computer and turned around so that she could get a good look at her face, trying to judge how she was dealing with recent events.

"Seriously though girl, are you okay?"

Kate looked at her with a slightly confused look on her face. "Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"

Lanie shot her a look that clearly said 'Really? You expect me to believe that?' to which Kate shot back a look of her own that said 'What?' while she voiced it out loud as well.

"Don't 'what' me, last night! You and Castle, then him walking off with his blond harpy, that's what!"

Kate let out a small 'oh' before turning back to her computer.

"Yeah well, Castle is still Castle, I don't know why I suddenly decided to expect him to grow up and _not_ run off with any nearby, available and willing, female."

Lanie opened her mouth, intending to say something, possibly something to defend Castle, but stopped short when she realized she didn't know how to reply to that since it was actually true. She didn't have time to think of anything else to say because her cell phone started ringing, apparently there was a dead body with her name on it somewhere.

"We _will_ talk about this more later. I-" Lanie was cut off when Kate's phone started ringing as well. She answered with her usual greeting of "Beckett" then wrote down the address she was given.

"Looks like I'll be coming with you."

* * *

The case ended up being a short and simple one, but very disturbing and gruesome all the same. And by the time Kate got home, she was ready to slip into a warm bath to wash away the day, then hit the sack early.

But as always, even the best laid plans go astray. She had just slipped into the hot water when her phone went off. Mildly irritated, she reached out for a towel to dry off her hands, then grabbed the phone off the stand next to the tub. Her irritation disappeared when she looked at the screen and it showed "Little Castle" as the caller.

"Hello? Alexis?"

"Hi Detective Beckett…Um, I'm not keeping you from anything am I?"

Kate sunk back down into the water, keeping a towel close by, and got comfortable again.

"You can call me Kate, and no, I'm just at home relaxing. Is something the matter?"

"No, not really. My roommate has been gone on some special trip thing all day and since there weren't any activities or classes scheduled today, I got a little lonely being by myself. I tried to call dad, but Gina answered the phone and said he was too busy writing to talk. Sorry, I probably shouldn't have called you. I'm sure you don't want to listen to teen ramblings." Alexis trailed off at the end, obviously rethinking calling Kate.

Kate just chuckled a bit before replying. "It's okay, I don't mind, It's not like I am doing anything anyway. Has it been fun while you've been there?"

They continued talking about little things, like some of the people Alexis met there, until Kate's water was well below what people considered normal bath water temperature. There was a lull in the conversation and Kate took that opportunity to ask a question that had been in the back of her mind ever since she had answered the phone.

"Are you sure everything is going okay over there? You can tell me about it, you know."

There was a pause before Alexis sighed. "No… I mean, nothing bad has happened, because I know that's what you are thinking, but it's just… Well, it's not like I thought it would be. Everyone is just here to party with the 'cool college kids' and play around. I thought there would be some actual learning going on, or I wouldn't have come at all."

Kate smiled at that, normally kids would be complaining that they were doing too much learning yet here was Alexis, complaining that they weren't doing enough.

_I might be extremely annoyed at Castle right now but that doesn't mean I can't help Little Castle out._

"Do you want to escape the summer program early then?"

"Really? But… how? I can't just leave the program…"

Kate could hear the excitement and joy in her voice when she replied.

"Oh trust me, there are ways."

* * *

**AN: So... What did you guys think about it? I've noticed that a lot of people want to see more Kate/Alexis bonding in season 3 so I'm hoping that you guys will like this as well.**

******Um, as for Kate's thoughts about the whole Castle/Gina thing... Thats what I imagine she would be thinking about after the events of the finale...**  


**If anyone is wondering, there will be some Caskett later on but this story will be mostly about Kate and Alexis. (If people actually like this story that is.)**

**So, guys, I need to know: Do you like this idea? Should I continue it? Will I ever be able to focus on the story I want to write the next chapter for? What would you like to see in the next chapters of this story?**


	2. Escaping Unscathed

**AN: A miracle has happened! I finished another chapter! It's amazing! (For me anyway. Bad habit of procrastinating) Must have been all those wonderful reviews I got! I can't promise to have another chapter out this fast, but reviews do help speed up the writing process XD**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

Kate and Alexis talked for a little longer, discussing their carefully laid plans to break Alexis from the confines of the summer program. Once the details were straight, Kate told Alexis to start packing her stuff and then they said their goodbyes with promises to put their plan into action around noon the next day.

Once they finally hung up, Kate got out of the bath and tried to ignore that she looked like a giant prune, minus the purple color of course.

Feeling extremely relaxed after talking to Alexis, Kate slipped into an old tee shirt and underwear then immediately got into bed. Normally, it took her a long time to go to sleep as she was one of those people who couldn't get their minds to turn off when it was time to sleep, but tonight she was asleep soon after her head hit the pillow.

_Everywhere she looked, it was dark. She could barely see her hand in front of her face and it scared her. There was no sound, no light, it was just empty. So she ran, and ran, until she couldn't run anymore. Just when she thought she would collapse from exhaustion, she saw a light ahead and pressed on. As she got closer, the light began to take the shape of a man and as the details became clearer, it turned out to be a very familiar man._

_"Castle!" She yelled out to the figure, and he turned around and gave her one of his brilliant smiles. She felt her face moving to mirror his in a wide grin as she was almost close enough to reach him. She reached out a hand to touch his arm but he suddenly disappeared and reappeared further away from her. Every time she would get close, he would move farther back and each time his face seemed to fall until finally it looked like he just had his heart broken into a thousand pieces._

_She pushed forward more, pushing herself even faster in order to reach him. She got close enough to touch him and instead of disappearing this time, he turned around and started walking away. She yelled out to him again, but he just kept walking and even though he was walking and she was running, she couldn't catch up to him. She watched with a horrid fascination as the figure of a woman with blonde started appearing next to him, linking their arms together._

_They turned back towards her, waved happily at her then they turned around and started walking away again._

_"No! Castle! Wait!" Using what seemed to be the last of her strength, she started into a run once more but then, she was falling._

Kate hit the floor with a thud and a curse as her hand hit her bedside table on the way down.

"Ow, I haven't fallen off the bed in years." She mumbled to herself as she stood up and sat back down on the bed, thinking about her dream. But, it didn't take long before a subconscious glance at the clock had her propelling herself off the bed, and into the shower, so she wouldn't be late picking Alexis up.

* * *

It took a while to get to the college where the summer program was being held at, but since Kate left early, she was able to make it right on time. Despite all their planning, the plan was really simple. Kate would go in and talk to the head of the program and simply tell her that Alexis couldn't stay for the rest of the program. If the head made a big deal out of it she would use the old "sick family member" card. And if _that_ didn't work, she would pull out her badge and try not to feel bad about abusing her power.

As her luck would have it, Kate ended up parking on the wrong side of campus and ended up having to walk all around the campus until she finally found the main office, who then told her that the head of the program was actually in another building in the middle of the campus.

By the time she finally found the building, she prayed that the head was inside and that she would be in a cooperative mood because Kate was hot, sweaty, and tired from her trek throughout the campus. The place was freaking huge! Plus, it was the start of June and already blistering outside.

Despite all the trouble it took actually finding the head, she turned out to be a nice woman that didn't ask too many questions. Within five minutes, a call was going out over the building's intercom announcing that Alexis needed to come to the lobby because her 'mother' was there to pick her up. Kate thought about correcting the woman, but figured that would just cause her to ask questions that Kate really didn't feel like answering right now. Plus, that would involve telling them why Alexis wanted to go home, and she promised that she wouldn't do that.

Within a few minutes, Alexis was heading down one of the staircases in the building, heading straight for Kate.

"What are you doing here, _mother_?" They shared a look, and a grin, without the head of the program seeing.

"Sorry honey, but I'm afraid that you won't get to stay for the rest of the program, something came up." Alexis pretended to think about it for a minute then replied. "Aw, I was looking forward to it too."

Kate just shrugged then turned to the head, asking what they needed to do before they could leave. The head told Alexis to go ahead and go pack up her stuff then bring her the key when she had all of her stuff out, and told Kate to follow her to sign some papers.

Papers were handed to Kate one after another and she signed them all quickly, then got up to go help Alexis 'pack' but she was stopped by the head of the program's voice.

"Kate… Beckett? Not Castle?"

It was times like these that Kate greatly appreciated her ability to quickly think on her feet.

"It is my maiden name. I've grown attached to it and couldn't bear to change it." The head deemed this a perfectly acceptable explanation and sent Kate on her way with directions to the dorms. Another few minutes had her knocking on Alexis' dorm door, which was opened quickly. Kate took a quick look around the room then raised an eyebrow at her.

"Done _packing_ already?"

Alexis rolled her eyes in true Beckett fashion before replying. "Yes, _mother._"

"Hey! I didn't have a chance to correct her before she was broadcasting it all over the building."

"Guess it saved you having to answer quite a few questions though huh?"

"Yup, now… Why don't you go ahead and start taking this stuff downstairs while I go _find_ where I parked the car and bring it over here? I kind of parked a ways away."

Alexis nodded her agreement, then Kate left to begin the journey to find her car.

* * *

Hours later, the two were happily singing to the songs on the radio as they got closer and closer to home. It was only when Kate pulled into her parking space at her apartment that she realized they had a little problem.

"Alexis? We didn't exactly think this through last night did we?"

Alexis turned in her seat to look at Kate. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I remember when I was your age, I was always so excited when my parents would leave, and I would get the house to myself, but after a few days, the excitement wears off… And you would be staying by yourself all summer if I took you back to Castle's apartment."

Realization dawned on Alexis and she sunk down in her chair a bit while staring at her hands that were in her lap. "Yeah…"

Kate looked at her and knew that the girl probably wouldn't even like the prospect of staying alone for a few days, let alone the whole summer.

"Well, you could stay with me… It would be a little cramped though, since it's a small apartment."

Alexis' head shot up at that. "You already helped me escape from the summer program, I can't do that!"

"I wouldn't feel right knowing that you were over there alone anyway, but if you really don't want to, then I won't make you."

"But… Wouldn't I be a bother to you?"

Kate couldn't help as an unladylike snort escaped from her without permission. "Oh please, I was roommates with Lanie, in what normal people would probably consider a closet, during college. I think I can survive."

Alexis laughed at that, but couldn't help making sure one more time. "Are you sure?"

"Yup, now let's get all your bags inside. You know… I'd be surprised if there was anything left in your room at all! Did you really need to take all that with you?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

* * *

**AN: Yeesh, I didn't mean for her dream to last that long but it just didn't want to end lol! Oh and that little bit about being roommates with Lanie? Just something I have been thinking about for a while. I thought it would be neat if they had been roommates in college but I doubt thats actually true.**

**Suggestions for things you would like to see them do over the course of the summer are very welcome and will more than likely be used if I can fit them in!**

**Reviews are like yummy little shot glasses filled with pure caffeine, they help get things done! (and make me one very happy writer.)**


	3. Cohabitating

**AN: Ehehehehe... You guys have probably been wondering if I was ever going to update weren't you? Sorry, sorry. I really did plan to have this out sooner but this little thing called 'real life' got in the way. That, and my inability to focus on writing without getting distracted.**

**This chapter is dedicated my very own mindreader, ChristyLoisGilmore17, because with out her, this chapter would have taken even longer to plan out.**

**Also, to all the wonderful reviews I got, Thank you!**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

During the two trips that it took to carry all of Alexis' bags up the stairs to her apartment, Kate was starting to wonder if all of it would fit in her apartment. But, then she remembered that she hadn't actually unpacked all of her stuff from her old apartment yet, so there ended up being plenty of room.

Kate asked which bags held Alexis' clothes in them, then picked up one of them and instructed Alexis to do the same with the other bag, before making her way into her bedroom. Kate sat down the bag she was carrying on her bed, then walked over to her closet, pushing her stuff off to one side.

"You can hang up some of your clothes in here, but I guess the rest that won't fit in there will have to stay the bag until we figure out something else."

Alexis nodded then moved over to the closet as well, noticing that Kate didn't seem to have too many clothes in the closet.

"I kind of figured you would have more clothes than this. Did you lose some of them in the explosion?"

Kate nodded before walking over to a really tall box that was in one corner of the room. She pulled on a flap to reveal that there was a bar inside so that clothes could be hung up inside the box.

"The explosion made me go through my clothes and get rid of some that I don't wear anymore because I didn't want to have to dry clean all of them. When I moved the rest of the stuff to here, the moving company gave me this box so I could hang up some clothes instead of having to fold them away. These are the ones I don't wear much so I figured I would just leave them in the box for now."

Kate pulled a bunch of hangers out of a nearby box and handed them over to Alexis while instructing her to put anything that needs to be washed into the hamper in the bathroom. Seeing that Alexis would be occupied for a while, Kate headed back into the living room to order some food for them, since they were too busy talking and singing on the drive back to stop and get something to eat.

Once that was done, Kate headed back to the bedroom to help Alexis get things put away. A comment about Alexis' great fashion sense sparked another pleasant conversation and before they knew it, the pizza had arrived.

Both of them were pretty tired after their 'daring' escape, so they decided against watching a movie while they ate, and instead agreed to watch an "Ace of Cakes" episode that Kate had saved on her DVR. There was just something so amazing about watching people build spectacular things out of cake.

Once the pepperoni pizza was finished off, a favorite for both the girls, the topic of sleeping arrangements was brought up.

"I would offer to sleep on the couch but I _know_ that you would be completely against the idea, and I can't let you sleep on the couch, because this old thing is barely made for sitting on, let alone sleeping on. So, at least for now, I was thinking maybe we could do the opposite ends thing."

Alexis agreed enthusiastically. "Sure, my friends and I do that all the time when we sleep over at each other's houses."

It probably wouldn't be a permanent solution to the sleeping arrangements, but it would have to do for now since Kate didn't have an extra bedroom. The two went about their normal night time routines and they were just about to take up their assigned places on the bed, when Alexis went over to one of her other bags and brought out a pillow and what _may_ have been, at one time many many years ago, a stuffed animal.

"What the hell is that thing?" Kate asked from her place by the headboard on the left side of the bed. Alexis moved over to the bed and placed her pillow at the foot of the bed on the right side before sliding under the covers and holding up the 'stuffed animal' for Kate to see it in all its gruesome glory.

"This? This is Monkey Bunky and, he is not a thing." Realization dawned on Kate's face as she suddenly remembered Castle mentioning that Alexis had a stuffed monkey that she had had since she was little. That meant, that that _thing_ was a monkey at one time?

Kate looked at the gruesome looking thing warily before speaking up. "Right… Just, make sure _he_ stays on your side of the bed. I don't want to roll over and the middle of the night and find it staring at me." She gave a little shudder at the thought, which pulled a laugh out of Alexis.

After that, they both laid down and Kate turned off the light. It was only a few minutes later that she could hear soft snores coming from the foot of the bed, so she rolled over and let the soft sound lull her to sleep.

* * *

A shrill noise brought Kate out of her slumber. She tried to lift up her arm to reach her phone, that was on her nightstand, but found that it was trapped under something. That something turned out to be Alexis' foot. Sometime in the night, Kate had turned over and reached her arms toward the side where Alexis' feet were. She carefully slid her arm out from under her legs then gratefully reached over, grabbing the phone and answering it, effectively cutting off the annoying noise.

"Beckett." She snapped her usual greeting, but it came out sounding groggy since she was still half asleep. Esposito gave her an address, which she wrote down on a notepad she kept by her bed, then hung up on him.

Kate carefully slid out of bed but stopped when Alexis' sleepy voice broke through the silence.

"Kate?"

Kate glanced at the clock and saw it was just barely five in the morning. "It's okay, I have a case but there is no need for you to get up so just go back to sleep. I'll come back later on in the morning, okay?"

Alexis nodded then curled back up with Monkey Bunky and drifted off to sleep again while Kate quietly went around the room, gathering up her clothes for the day.

* * *

_Let's see, since I am on call, if we don't bring in a suspect in the next few hours I should be able to make it back home before breakfast. Though, I better stop at the store first and get some edible ingredients to make breakfast with._

Kate pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind as she approached the crime scene. Despite the fact that the crime scene felt empty without Castle hanging around, touching things that he shouldn't, she couldn't help the small smile on her face as she made a mental list of what she should get at the store. It felt nice knowing that she had someone depending on her, and waiting for her at home.

It was that same smile that had Epsosito and Ryan looking at her with strange expressions on their faces as she approached them.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Deep down she knew that this was probably the first time she had really smiled since Castle left, and that's why they were staring at her. She walked passed them and headed over to Lanie who was crouching down by a young woman in her twenties who had been stabbed in the back.

"What've we got?"

Lanie read off the information that she had been able to find out, then told her that she would have more info when she got the body back to the morgue.

Kate stood up from where she too had been crouching by the body, and sent Ryan and Esposito off to round up some witnesses. When she turned back around, she saw Lanie staring at her with one eyebrow raised.

"What?" Kate held her hands up defensively; she wasn't smiling this time so that couldn't be what Lanie was silently asking about.

"Really? That's how you wanna do this? Don't play dumb with me, girl! You've been either pissed off at the world or sulking these last few days, but suddenly you are back to normal? Something happened, so spill it."

"It's nothing, really." Lanie looked like she had a smart reply to that, but Kate cut her off with a question. "Hey, when you were a teenager, what did you do all summer long?"

Thoroughly confused, Lanie responded as she stood up and motioned for the guys to bag the body and take it to the 'morgue mobile'. "I usually got hauled off to some distant relative's house for the summer. So I didn't usually have much choice about what to do. Why the sudden interest in my teen years?"

"What if your parents decided to let you stay home while they went off to a relative's house? What would you have done then?" By now Lanie was sliding into the front seat of the 'morgue mobile' while Kate leaned on the door.

"Hmm, I think that did happen once. I spent a lot of time at my friend's houses, but it was so boring with nothing to do. What is this about?"

Seeing that the body was secure in the back and they were ready to take it back to the morgue, Kate stepped away from the door, completely ignoring Lanie's question and watched as the van drove away before getting into her own car and heading back to the station.

* * *

At the station, Kate met back up with Ryan and Esposito who told her that they couldn't find any witnesses around the scene of the crime, but they found a security camera on a nearby store that might have caught something on the tape. Only, they were having a hard time tracking down the owner.

She told them to keep trying to find the owner, and to show the victim's picture to stores around the area and maybe someone could identify her. After sending them on their way, she headed to her desk to start filling out the necessary paperwork for the case.

When she was finally done with the paperwork, and two cups of coffee, it was a little after seven so she told the guys to let her know if they found anything, then headed out of the precinct. Fully aware of the very confused looks she was getting from Ryan and Esposito since they couldn't even remember a time when she left the precinct willingly when it was still daylight out.

* * *

It was the smell of bacon cooking that woke Alexis up later that morning. She got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth before she let the smell lead her to the kitchen where she saw Kate standing over the stove with a pan full of eggs in one hand and a spatula in the other.

"Morning, Kate."

Kate visibly jumped at the sound, obviously used to being alone, and Alexis was quick to apologize for scaring her.

"It's alright, that's just going to take some getting used to."

As Kate served both of them, Alexis asked about her new case but when they started eating, they decided to change the subject to something less gory, lest they lose their appetites.

"So now that you don't have the summer program to keep you busy, what do you plan to do this summer?" Alexis chewed a piece of bacon thoughtfully for a moment before replying.

"You know, I haven't really thought of that. Usually, Dad has some off the wall adventure thing planned for the summer but seeing as he is being held hostage in the Hamptons with Gina, that's not likely to happen this year."

"Held hostage?"

"Gina is… A nice person, I guess. But she is very controlling. Especially when it comes to my Dad's books. I've called him a few times but every time I do, Gina answers and says he is too busy. I asked her to tell him that I was staying with you, but I doubt she actually told him that. Probably thinks it would distract him from writing."

They were both silent for a minute, then Kate asked what was on her mind. "If she is so controlling, why did he ask her to go with him?"

"Probably because he knew that she would actually make him work on his book. He has really been slacking off on writing lately, so he probably thinks the only way he will get anything done is with her nagging him all the time."

"I guess so… Anyway, I'll have to go back to work here in a little bit, what will you do while I am gone?" Kate asked as she got up to put the dishes in the sink.

"Well, I will probably wash some of my clothes then just relax for a while. I got practically no sleep while I was staying in those dorms because even at night, all the other students wanted to do was party. And let's just say that the walls in that place are definitely _not_ sound proof."

Kate laughed a bit at the last part, then pointed out that her apartment, as small as it was, was one of the few apartments that had a washer and dryer in the apartment itself, so that she didn't have to go down to a laundry mat. The machines themselves were old but they had served her well so far, and it was a lot easier doing her laundry in the privacy of her own apartment so that she didn't get strange looks when she had to scrub unknown substances out of her clothes. After all, crime scenes weren't usually the cleanest places in the world.

Once she showed Alexis how to work the machines, and where the detergent and things were, she got ready to head back to the precinct, but had one more question for Alexis before she left.

"I've been thinking, since I am usually gone most of the day on cases, it would probably be a good idea for you to volunteer somewhere. And, if you wanted, I could probably pull some strings to let you volunteer down at the precinct. Not on the field of course, but probably more things like you did when you helped out before. Then again, that might be even more boring than staying home all day, so it's up to you whether you want to do it or not."

Alexis thought for a moment, then decided that she would rather be helping out at least a little bit, than sitting around doing nothing all day.

"Sure, why not?"

* * *

******AN: Alexis' stuffed animal is called Monkey Bunky isn't it? I think it is... But, then as I was writing I started to think maybe I had that wrong.**

******Anyway, not quite as happy with this chapter as I was the others, not sure why thought. What did you guys think of it?**

******Oh, and to anyone who doesn't understand the 'opposite ends' thing, thats something girls tend to do when they sleep over at another girls house who doesn't have an extra bed. One sleeps with their head near the head of the bed and the other sleeps with their head near the foot of the bed. This prevents the possibility of waking up in each others personal space**

******************and the awkward moments when you realize you are invading the other's personal space.**

**Reviews are like yummy little shot glasses filled with pure caffeine, they help me focus! (and make me one very happy writer.)**


	4. Hostage Situation

**AN: This chapter was a major pain in the butt! I knew I wanted to have a scene with Castle in here, and I knew exactly how it should go. Yet, when I tried to write it it would not cooperate. Finally I managed to get some inspiration for it and force it into submission so that you guys can (hopefully) enjoy a new chapter.**

**Once again, many many many thanks to my personal mind reader,**** ChristyLoisGilmore17, who pretty much talked me through this whole chapter even though I kind of ended up forgetting what we had decided on for this chapter and had to go search through our emails to find what we had planned...**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

Richard Castle was sitting at his desk in the Hamptons, dutifully working on the latest chapter of 'Naked Heat'. He'd gotten a considerable amount of progress done, only because Gina had taken away all his contact with the outside world and he had nothing else to do. Of course, he could go down to the beach or something, but that got old after a few days of doing nothing but that while putting off writing.

So, after only a few days, he figured he better start writing, if only to be able to get in touch with the outside world again. She was seriously starting to piss him off though, since she wouldn't let him talk to Alexis, but since she said that she had talked to her for him, and said that Alexis was having a great time, he tried not to let it bother him too much.

_I mean, it's not like she would lie to me about Alexis just so I wouldn't worry... Right? _He shook his head to clear those thoughts from his mind. If something was really wrong she would tell him, she wasn't _that _heartless.

Castle looked wistfully over at the large flat screen tv that was on one wall, wishing that he could play some kind of game or do something that didn't involve Nikki Heat. As much as he didn't want to, everything he did made him think about a certain homicide detective. Last night he had even gone so far as typing Rick and Kate instead of Rook and Nikki while writing a couple paragraphs. Thankfully he had realized what he had done, and fixed it, before he had let Gina look over that chapter though.

He had just planned to quit cold turkey, leave for the summer and not think about or talk to anyone in the precinct but after only a few days, he already wanted to get in contact with Ryan or Esposito, just to see what was going on without him. But, seeing as he didn't have his phone, and Gina had cut off the internet, because he made the mistake of telling her he already had all his research done, he couldn't even get in contact with them. Which was probably just as well, since he didn't really want to hear about how great Beckett and Demming were getting along.

An almost inhuman shriek came from the doorway of his study and Castle realized that he had been staring off into space, thinking about things that he should not have been, for the better part of an hour. With a heavy sigh, he sat back up in his chair and started writing, really wishing that Alexis was there to cheer him up. As he looked at Gina who was still standing in the doorway, he vowed to get his phone back one way or another.

* * *

_Kate didn't know why, but she was afraid. Fear was griping her heart as she frantically placed brick after brick into this large wall in front of her. She didn't really understand why she was doing this, only that on the other side of this wall was something that terrified her, and she was desperately trying to keep it out._

_She jumped when there was a loud roaring sound that reminded her of waves in the ocean crashing against the shoreline. Quickly, she put the last brick in place and then stepped back to admire her handy work._

_Suddenly, she was leaning down next to Castle, looking at a file he was reading. "You smell like cherries." He tells her and she turns her head to look at him, realizing they are only a few inches apart._

_A hissing sound startles her and now she is looking at the wall again where a brick just fell out, a dark stream of water flowing out of the place where the brick should have been. She rushed to put the brick back but suddenly found herself huddled in her bathtub, naked and bruised, while everything is in ashes around her. Someone is shouting her name and then suddenly Castle is standing in the doorway._

_"Castle! Turn around!" He gives her some sort of remark, but she doesn't really pay attention, then she finds herself wrapped in his jacket and they are stumbling out of her burning apartment._

_Two more bricks fall at her feet and she scrambles to put them back in as more start to fall out. She pushes the bricks back into place and feels the dark water running over her hands but when she looks down at them; her hands are covered in blood. She's kneeling next to Dick Coonan, desperately trying to get his heart to start again. She's getting blood all over her but she doesn't care. Then, there is a warm hand on her shoulder and she knows that it's Castle trying to comfort her._

_Kate can hear the almost deafening sound of the bricks falling one after another but she's standing in front of the murder board and Esposito is telling her something that she understands loud and clear._

_"Whatever his reasons are, they don't include watching you be with another guy."_

_The brick wall she had worked so hard to build came crashing down, letting loose the waves of dark water that the wall was holding back. They crashed over her and the breath was knocked out of her with the force of it._

_It was dark all around her and she was underwater, unable to breathe. Desperately, she called out but no one could hear her as she sunk to the bottom._

"…Kate…Kate!...KATE! Wake up!" Her shoulders where being shaken roughly and Kate groaned before moving her hands up to rub the sleep from her eyes, only to find that her whole face was wet.

"Wha?" She opened her eyes and realized that she had been crying in her sleep.

"Kate? Are you okay? You were crying and yelling in your sleep." Kate looked up to see Alexis looking at her with a worried expression on her face.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Sorry, did I wake you?"

"It's okay, the alarm was just about to go off anyway."

Kate looked over at the clock on the bedside table and saw that it was nearly time to get up. She reached over and turned off the alarm before it could even start, then they both made their way into the kitchen where they decided on having French toast for breakfast.

* * *

Two hours later found Kate Beckett walking through the doors of the precinct, ready for another day of murder and mayhem. She was just a few minutes later than normal since she had dropped Alexis off at a friend's house before heading to work. Alexis was going to spend most of the day with a few of her friends then come by the station later in the afternoon to fill out the necessary paperwork to be able to help out. She wouldn't actually start until tomorrow though.

She walked into the bull pen and immediately noticed something was off. Glancing over to Ryan and Esposito's desk, she found them working diligently at their computers with slightly terrified expressions on their faces. When she got to her desk, she quickly opened the drawer where she normally put her purse, quickly putting her purse in its place before shutting the door a little too roughly causing both Ryan and Esposito to jump.

"What's got you two all jumpy?"

Esposito turned towards her and looked around carefully before mouthing one word.

"Lanie."

That was all the warning Kate got before there was a rush of air and she was suddenly being hauled off to the girl's bathroom by one very determined woman.

"Spill it. I know something is going on. You are happy again and…and… Is that French toast I smell? You actually ate breakfast before coming into work? You never do that unless it's a bear claw or something else you picked up on your way here."

Kate stood silently as Lanie went on for a few more minutes, knowing that Lanie needed to get all her questions out in the open before she even tried to answer them. Once Lanie finally calmed down enough so that Kate could talk, she told her everything that had happened in the last few days because she knew that Lanie was just worried about her. Even though she didn't need to be.

"And that's why you were suddenly curious about what I did in my teen years? So you could figure out what to do with Alexis?"

"Yeah, I figured she would get bored just being around the apartment so I suggested she volunteer here at the precinct, for a little while at least."

"I don't know, are you sure this is all a good idea?"

A knock was heard on the bathroom door and suddenly they could hear Ryan telling Kate that she had a new case.

"It will be fine, Lanie. Now, if you are through interrogating me, I have a job to do."

* * *

******AN: Okay, before you ask, Yes the dream is important. You might be able to figure out why she is having those dreams if you think about it but if not, it will be explained in the next chapter.**

******Poor Castle being held hostage by Gina... She took away his phone and his internet! At least he is actually writing though, right? Somehow I don't think he sees it that way.**

**********Reviews are like yummy little shot glasses filled with pure caffeine, they help me focus! (and make me one very happy writer.)**


	5. Dreams Talk

**This chapter soooo did not want to cooperate! I wrote it about halfway through a couple weeks ago but it just seemed bleh so I rewrote it but it didn't seem any better so finally I went through and rewrote it yet again after getting inspired by Doe82 who had some nice ideas for this story. I'm not overly happy about this chapter but it's better than it was haha!**

**Special thanks goes to ChristyLoisGilmore17 for helping with this story.**

**Also I'd like to give a little shout out to bettine for being the 100th person to add this story to their story alert XD**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

Kate Beckett sat at her desk, staring at the same file that she had been looking at for the last hour as if it held all the answers she needed. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of a red haired blur but didn't need to look more carefully to know that it was Alexis rushing around, taking care of various errands.

It had been about a week since Alexis started working at the precinct and after a few rough days, they all fell into a comfortable routine. At first Alexis tried to help out all over the precinct but other divisions didn't trust her enough with their errands so after the first day she stuck to doing things for the homicide division, who were very happy to have extra help. Yesterday the older lady who sorted and delivered the precinct mail fell and hurt her back so, Alexis quickly offered to fill in for her and was currently rushing through the place delivering mail.

Kate continued to look over the same file, which was the file containing all the info on their latest case, for a while longer, hoping to find something that she overlooked until Alexis plopped down in Castle's chair and spoke up.

"I just got back from the morgue and Lanie wants to know if you want to go to Remy's with us for lunch?" Kate looked from Alexis to the clock, realizing that she could take her lunch break anytime now and decided she might as well go with them.

"Sure, let me grab my bag and we can go."

Alexis nodded then they both stood up, said their goodbyes to the guys and headed to Remy's.

* * *

When Alexis first started volunteering at the precinct they all agreed that she would go home at four pm everyday so that she didn't end up staying there all day. Usually Kate stayed much later so Alexis left by herself but today Kate surprised her by joining her.

"Thanks to you, we finished the case earlier than expected so I was thinking maybe we could go do something together?" It was true, during lunch Alexis had questioned something about the case Kate was working on that ended up giving her a new lead to work on.

"Sure, what did you have in mind?"

"I don't know… How about a movie? Didn't that 'Killers' movie come out a few days ago? The previews looked pretty good."

"Oh yeah, that movie is supposed to be pretty good."

With that decided, they went back to Kate's apartment so they could change into some more casual clothes and they were just about to head out when Alexis's cell phone rang, the caller id showing that it was Martha calling.

Martha had been unreachable, just like Castle, when Alexis wanted to talk about the summer program and she didn't get into contact with her until a few days into her stay with Kate. She had managed to land a decent sized part in an indie film and had been busy with that but she offered to come back and stay with Alexis for the summer. After multiple reassurances from both Kate and Alexis, she decided to go ahead and keep her part in the film but promised to stay in touch more than she had before.

Alexis talked with Martha for a few minutes, telling her about things she had done to help out around the precinct, until Martha had to go then Alexis and Kate made their way to the nearest movie theater to enjoy overly expensive snacks and drinks while watching 'Killers'.

* * *

Richard Castle was once again sitting in his study, in his place in the Hamptons, laptop situated on his lap as he worked on his book. Distantly, he heard his phone ring but before he could even think about finding it, it was answered by Gina.

_The sooner I get this done the sooner I can talk to Alexis._

Despite being held hostage, or maybe because of it, he had made quite a bit of progress on 'Naked Heat' though not quite enough to get Gina to give him his phone back yet.

After the first few days he had made several attempts to get his phone back but apparently she knew him better than he thought and managed to keep him from getting it each time until finally he resigned himself to making a deal with her. If he worked hard enough and had at least a fourth of the book completely ready for publishing then he could have his phone back. Normally he should already have at least that much done but after getting frustrated with the way the book was going, he decided to go back through and revamp it from the beginning.

It wasn't like he completely started from scratch though so he was hoping to be able to get his phone back by Father's day. It would be the first Father's day he had spent away from Alexis so he was going to at least call her even if he had to literally fight Gina for it. He was pretty sure he could honor their deal and get that much of the book done by then though.

If only his thoughts would stop straying to a certain homicide detective, he could get it done a lot faster.

* * *

The movie ended up being pretty good, maybe not the best but definitely enjoyable and now the girls were relaxing at the apartment while their dinner cooked in the oven. Alexis was in charge of dinner tonight so she was watching tv in between checking on the food while Kate was working on paper work. Though she was busy with her paper work, Kate was half way listening to the tv as well when a commercial advertising Father's day came on. She looked up at the tv confused for a minute before realizing that yes, it was only two weeks until Father's day.

Pushing her paper work aside she grabbed her phone and went into the bedroom to call her dad.

Ideally she would go see her father every year on Father's day but with both of them working sometimes it was a day or two before or after the actual day so she needed to call him now to find out when he wanted to meet.

They talked for a good twenty minutes about various things before figuring out that they could actually meet on Father's day itself as Kate had that day off and he only had to work a short shift in the morning. She didn't tell him all the details but mentioned that someone was staying with her but Jim didn't have any problems with Alexis coming along, if she wanted, so they made plans to meet at his house in the afternoon for dinner on Father's day.

Once she hung up the phone, she walked into the kitchen to find that Alexis was just about done so she set out some plates and helped Alexis serve everything before they settled down to eat.

While they were eating, Kate told her that she was going to meet her dad on Father's day and asked if she wanted to come and Alexis agreed. Seeing that Alexis looked a little disheartened at the thought of Father's day, Kate turned towards her with a reassuring smile.

"I'm sure that he will definitely call you or pick up the phone by then. No matter how caught up in his writing he is, I'm sure that he doesn't like being away from you during Father's day just as much as you do, so he will at least call."

"You're right…Oh! I totally forgot!" Alexis pushed away her plate of food and rushed over to her purse that was by the door, rummaging through it and pulling out a small note pad before sitting back down where she was before.

"I went over to Taylor's house yesterday but while I was there she got distracted and ended up talking to her boyfriend on the phone for an hour so while I was bored I found out she had a book about dreams so I went through it to see what I could find out about that dream you keep having."

Since the night she had the dream where she was trying to build that brick wall, she would have that same dream almost every night and eventually ended up telling Alexis what it was about, though she left out just who was the star of her dreams.

"Really? Did you find out anything interesting?"

Alexis flipped to a certain page in the notebook before speaking. "Well, you said that at the end waves of water always come crashing out from behind the wall, right? In the book it said that waves symbolize the power of the unconscious or emotions. Enormous breaking waves represent powerful emotions while gentle ones mean a calm state of mind. So since you are afraid of what is behind the wall in the beginning and it turns out to be waves at the end maybe it means that you are afraid of some emotion or something taking over? It seems like the wall represents you trying to keep whatever the waves represent out but its not working? Anyway, that probably didn't help at all but I thought I'd share it anyway."

Alexis went back to eating her dinner while Kate chewed thoughtfully, thinking about what she had said. It made sense to her even though she didn't want it to. She knew exactly what the dream meant now but didn't want to admit it, even to herself.

She had done a wonderful job of seeming like his leaving hadn't effected her on the outside but apparently her subconscious was another matter. She had carefully built a wall around her but Castle had weakened it brick by brick until it was on the verge of collapsing. When he left she had frantically tried to put all the pieces back into place but it was no match for the growing feelings she had for him that were threatening to break through and rise to the surface. It hurt her deep when he left but maybe they could start anew when he came back.

With that thought, she pushed all other thoughts of Castle away and concentrated on enjoying the wonderful home cooked meal that his daughter had made for her.

* * *

**Okay let's see, there were a few things I wanted to point out now... If I can just remember what they all were.**

**I haven't seen the movie "Killers" But I heard it was pretty good and I looked at new movies that came out around the time that this story takes place and that was the only one I could see Kate and Alexis going to see.**

**Lots of thanks to Christy for helping me with the dream meanings. For those of you that thought Kate seemed kind of unemotional about Castle leaving, she was like that because she pushed her feelings off to the side and won't deal with them. But while she can push them away when she is awake, she can't do that in her sleep so her feelings about Castle leaving and Castle in general are causing her to have dreams like that.**

**I think there was one more thing I was going to explain but its almost one in the morning here and I am too tired to remember what it was.**


	6. It's Complicated

**You get another chapter and it hasn't even been a month! It's a miracle! Okay, actually no it's not. I am definitely going to try harder to update this story faster than I have been.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

His fingers were flying across the keys of his laptop, typing up word after word of the newest Nikki Heat novel. He woke up early this morning and immediately started working until finally, in the afternoon, he was putting the finishing touches on chapters one through six of 'Naked Heat'.

"Yes!" Castle took the time to fist pump the air a couple times before running out of the study in search of the person who was holding his precious phone hostage. After going through the whole house, he finally found her outside on the beach.

"Gina! I completely finished a fourth of the book, now give me my phone!"

She calmly looked over at the grown man who was practically hoping from foot to foot while waiting for his phone. "Completely? You aren't going to suddenly decide to start over again are you, Richard?"

He shook his head so fast it was a wonder he didn't get whiplash. "Good." She picked up his phone from its place on her towel and threw it at him. "You can have it back. But! If I see even a small decrease in production from you I _will_ take it away again."

The only answer she got was a half hearted assurance that he wouldn't slack off since as soon as the phone was in his hands, he had taken off back to the house, quickly dialing his daughter's phone number.

* * *

When they had first set out for Kate's dad's house, Alexis was a little nervous about meeting him but once they actually got there, he turned out to be a very nice and laid back man. After the introductions were over, Alexis was given a grand tour of the decent sized country home that Kate grew up in. It wasn't exactly in the country but it was far enough out of the city to give more privacy and had a country feel to it. They had just settled into the living room, and Kate was explaining in more detail why Alexis was staying with her, when Alexis's phone went off. Looking down at the screen of her phone her eyes lit up seeing that finally after weeks of not hearing from him, Castle was calling. She quickly stood up, excusing herself, before walking outside to give Kate and her father some time to talk while she did the same with her own father.

"Dad?"

"Hey, Pumpkin!"

"Happy Father's day! I didn't think I was going to get to talk to you today since Gina's been answering the phone every time I call and won't let me talk to you. Why did you even take her up there in the first place?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't think she would actually take my phone away but because she did, I've managed to get lots of progress done on 'Naked Heat' and because I made enough progress, she let me have the phone back. I brought her with me because I knew she would actually make me get some writing done."

Alexis made her way over to the porch swing, curling up in it.

"Well, that's good I guess. It was still a shock when she answered your phone the first time because I was under the impression that you were going to take Ka- Detective Beckett with you, at least for the weekend."

He gave a little humorless chuckle before replying. "I was, but those plans didn't exactly work out and when Gina called to haggle me about the book, we ended up talking and I asked her to come with me."

"Didn't work out? Why not?" Alexis honestly didn't know why not and until now she just assumed that he chickened out and didn't ask her but maybe that wasn't the case.

"It's… Complicated. You don't want to hear about boring adult stuff, tell me about some things that you have been doing? Has the program been fun?"

_Does he not know? Gina was supposed to tell him!_ "You mean, Gina didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"That…" _If I tell him he'll come home immediately and while yes I do miss him, he needs to work on the book and apparently he can't do that unless Gina is making him. _Taking a deep breath, Alexis did something that she hated doing. She lied to her father.

"That I'm having a great time here! I told her to tell you but I guess she didn't." Both Castle's let out a sigh of relief, one because he was thinking horrific thoughts of his daughter having a hard time there and the other because she managed to lie to him without it sounding like a total lie. After a second of silence, Castle prompted her to tell him about the things she has been doing.

"Well, I've learned lots of new stuff, plus I've made a new friend out of a teacher there and she's been showing me lots of cool things. Of course, it hasn't been all work, no play. I've spent lots of time with my new friends. We've gone to the movies, out to eat, and we even went ice skating once… That didn't end too well on my part though. Apparently the ice and I don't get along. But, I do want to hear about 'boring adult stuff' especially when it concerns you, dad. Did you even ask her to go with you?" He didn't need to know that the 'teacher' was Lanie and that all of those things were things that she had done with Kate over the weeks since her 'daring escape' from the summer program.

"It sounds like you are having a wonderful time then. Hopefully not too good of a time though, right?" Alexis raised an eyebrow at him even though he couldn't see it. He was completely ignoring her question. Did he really not want to answer it? Too bad that she was her father's daughter and that made her want to know the answer ever more.

"Dad… Did you ask her?"

There was a sigh and some mumbling before he spoke up. "Yes, I asked her but she turned me down."

"And what? That's it? You just let it go? Geez dad, that's not like you. Normally you would go after whatever you wanted and not stop until you get it."

"I backed down."

There was silence as Alexis tried to understand what he meant. "Backed down? Backed down from what?"

"Schlemming." For a normally very talkative writer he was being very withholding today.

"What does a fictional character in your book have to do with anything?"

There was no mistaking the depressed sigh that came from the other end of the line. "Because he's not fictional, he's a real person named Demming. Also, he's not in my book anymore. I rewrote the whole thing and took him out of the picture."

_A real person? But, in the book he was a guy that Nikki was starting to like… Oh, poor dad! But, if that's true where is Demming? I've been around Kate this whole time and I haven't seen him around her at the precinct and she hasn't been seeing him after work because she always comes home._ _Wait, rewrote the whole thing? Geez, no wonder Gina's been after him._

"Okay so let me get this straight. Schlemming is a real person so you backed down? You gave up? On Detective Beckett just because someone else showed interest in her?" That probably came out a little harsher than she wanted it to but she just didn't understand why he would do that.

"I told you, it's complicated pumpkin." He sounded so down from talking about it that she almost didn't push it further but she had a feeling that this had something to do with the dreams that Kate has been having along with the fact that everyone at the precinct tiptoes around the subject of her father when Kate was near.

"Dad, please. I want to know what happened. You used to hate leaving her side for a week yet, now you are spending the whole summer away from her."

"Alright, hold on a minute." She waited patiently as she heard him moving through the house and judging by the sounds it sounded like he was making his way upstairs. After another minute or so he made it to where ever it was he was going and started explaining what had happened. He told her about Demming showing up to help on the case involving Ike Thorton and about how he kept showing up after that. He continued talking until he had told her everything that had happened from the time Demming showed up until he walked out of the precinct with Gina.

Alexis hung on his every word, but there was something that was bothering her.

"Dad?"

"Yes, pumpkin?"

A shrill beeping in her ear caused her to pull her phone away from her head and look at it, noticing that it was showing low battery.

"Uh, well I forgot to charge up my phone so I have to go. I'm really glad that you called me, it's been weird not actually getting to see you on Father's day but, I'm having a great time."

"It's odd for me too. I miss you so much but we will see each other after the summer, alright? Call me whenever you have the chance, I'll be looking forward to it. Good bye, Alexis."

"I'll call as often as I can. As long as you promise Gina won't answer it anymore. There is something I am curious about though… "

She just knew that he had one eyebrow raised as he replied. "Oh? What is it?"

"Well, I was thinking why would Detective Beckett pull you out into the hallway and start off by saying she isn't the easiest to get to know if she was just going to tell you to have a great summer? Doesn't really make sense to me but then again, you know her better than I do so you should know why she did that but my phone is really about to cut off any minute now so, bye dad. I'll try to call tomorrow!" And with that she disconnected the call, unfolded herself from her position on the porch swing, and headed inside to help Kate with the Father's day dinner knowing that her father would spend the rest of the day, and maybe longer, thinking about her question.

While her father was trying to figure it out on his own, Alexis was going to find out what Kate was really going to say from the source herself.

And if Kate wouldn't tell her, well then it was a good thing that Alexis had been spending a lot of time with a certain ME lately.

* * *

**This chapter isn't exactly my favorite, probably because it was all Castle and Alexis talking but it's necessary for what I have planned. *Insert evil laugh here***

**Um... Dang it, I had a few things I wanted to mention about this chapter but now I can't remember what they were!**

**I think one of them was that I have no idea how many chapters "Naked Heat" actually has, I just guessed that six chapters would be a fourth of the way.**

**Sooooooooo, now we got Castle's wheels turning, thinking about why Beckett would say that then just say have a great summer.**

**I wasn't originally going to skip to Father's day already but if I had waited and spent chapters going through all the things that Kate and Alexis did we would all be in our 80's before this story is finished. But don't worry we still have the rest of the summer for Kate and Alexis to spend time together.**


	7. Asking Questions

**I really shouldn't be writing anything this late but I got inspired by the new promo for the season 3 premier I just saw. Wait! Don't freak out yet! It's not a new, new one... Apparently everyone else has seen it BUT me... Christy said that it aired after one of the reruns that come on Wednesday nights but seeing as I don't normally watch the reruns (Because it just seems weird to me to be watching Castle on Wednesdays instead of Mondays) I didn't see it until a little while ago.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

_"Why would Detective Beckett pull you out into the hallway and start off by saying she isn't the easiest to get to know if she was just going to tell you to have a great summer? Doesn't really make sense to me, but then again, you know her better than I do so you should know why she did that."_

Alexis' words kept running through his head all night and even into the next day. He had given it a little thought as he headed to the beach house that day but, he figured he was just reading too much into things. Now that Alexis had mentioned it, he couldn't stop thinking about it. It was times like these that he hated his curious nature.

_Was it something about the case? Nah, it couldn't be since everything about the case was all tied up. But if it wasn't about the case, what could it be? She pulled me into the hallway so apparently she didn't want everyone else to hear it… Could it have been something about the guys? It's possible but… No, if it was about them she wouldn't have said that about her not being the easiest to get to know… So then was it something about her? Maybe one of the guys would know?_

With that thought he pulled out his newly rescued phone and set off a quick text to Esposito and Ryan. Technically he only sent it to Esposito but he knew Ryan would read it too.

Five minutes passed and no reply.

Five turned to ten and ten turned to twenty. _Maybe they are busy with a case?_

When twenty turned into thirty he finally decided he should stop staring at the phone and might as well get some writing done before Gina decided to take it back, then he would never get to read their reply.

* * *

"I don't know, man. I want to talk to him too but what about Beckett? Knowing her she probably wouldn't be angry that we were still talking to him but, I don't think she would be overly happy about it either." Ryan and Esposito were crowding around Esposito's phone, trying to decide if they should reply or not.

"I hear ya. Damn this is just like when my parents would fight when I was little, I never knew whose side I should be on." Ryan nodded his agreement to Esposito's statement before leaning back in his chair.

"I say we just wait a while, see what happens you know?"

"You really think that somethin's going to change anytime soon?"

"Well, he is going to find out about Little Castle helping out around here eventually. Wait until then?"

"Sounds good to me."

* * *

To the littler Castle, time seemed to slow to a crawl as she waited until four o'clock came around. Usually she enjoyed working at the precinct but she had plans for the afternoon.

Countless errands later, it was finally four o'clock and she bid her goodbyes to the members of the homicide division before getting on the elevator and heading down. Normally she would ride the subway back to Kate's apartment or go over to a friend's house but today, she headed down to the morgue to have a little chat with a certain medical examiner.

When it was a slow day around the precinct, and there weren't many things for her to do, Alexis would head down to the morgue to help out Lanie since there was almost always something she could help with so it wasn't much of a surprise to Lanie when she walked in.

"Hey, girl. Not enough work for you upstairs today?" Lanie had been very hesitant about Alexis staying with Kate, but after a while the younger girl grew on her and they had become pretty close.

"Actually, it's already four so I'm supposed to be heading home but, I was hoping you would have a few minutes to talk?"

Lanie threw a shocked glance at the clock to see that it was in fact after four. "Wow, I didn't know it was already that late and seeing as I haven't had a break since lunch, I think I can spare a few minutes. What's up?"

"Well…" Alexis trailed off, suddenly unsure about going behind Kate's back to get information that she obviously didn't want her to know.

"I want to know what happened when my dad left for the summer."

That was definitely not what Lanie was expecting. "That's… I don't think… Why aren't you asking Kate this?"

"I tried, but she wouldn't tell me."

"Then she probably doesn't want you to know. I'm sorry but I don't really think I should tell you. Things between your dad and Kate are… Complicated."

Complicated, oh how she was starting to hate that word. Alexis didn't want to risk the friendship she had with the ME by pushing her for answers but she couldn't help asking one more thing.

"Did you know she has been having nightmares? She's only told me about a few of them but when she has them she always calls out 'Castle' in her sleep."

"Really?" Now that was something Lanie hadn't heard anything about. Maybe she was wrong to think that this wasn't affecting Kate much.

"Yes, and I'm pretty sure she was saying 'don't go' one time but I'm not completely sure about that. I just want to know what happened but no one will tell me anything."

"Surely Writer Boy already told you what happened? Or is that harpy still answering his phone?"

"I finally got to talk to him yesterday since Gina finally gave him his phone back and I got his version of the story, but I have a feeling there is something missing from his version."

"You got that right. That boy didn't know that she'd broken up with Demming before his 'going away' party so he walked right out the door with that harpy hanging off his arm… Oh man." Her eyes got comically wide as she realized that she had just spilled the beans thanks to her big mouth.

"But why did she break up with him? From what I've heard, things were going pretty well between her and that guy."

Lanie eyed the younger girl who looked honestly interested and confused by the whole thing and decided she'd already told her the biggest part so there wasn't really any reason not to answer her.

"Things were going good between them. I didn't actually get to see them together much but I have eyes and ears all over this place, I know what goes on. As for why she broke up with him, Javier said that it was his fault. He pointed out to my girl that she had a choice to make and that whoever she didn't pick would leave. Apparently she picked Writer Boy since she almost immediately went to break up with Demming after that."

Alexis raised an eyebrow at the fact that Lanie called the detective by his first name but didn't say anything in favor of getting to the bottom of this mystery.

"So…She broke up with Demming before the party so does that mean she was going to tell my dad that when she asked to talk to him out in the hallway?"

Lanie looked thoughtful for a minute before replying. "That's a good question… Knowing Kate she probably wouldn't have come right out and said that she had broken up with him, it's more likely that she was going to ask if the offer to go to the Hamptons with him was still open."

"Ugh, do these two have the worst timing ever or what? The one time that my dad actually backs down from something, because he thinks it's the right thing to do, is the one time that he shouldn't."

"Wait, he backed down because he thought it was the right thing to do? I just assumed that he had had enough of seeing them together."

"Well, there is that too. But yeah, he thought it would be for the best if he backed off and let Kate do what she wanted since she seemed so happy with him."

Lanie made a sound of acknowledgement then they both went silent for a minute, each lost in their own thoughts.

"Well…"

"So…" They both started speaking at the same time, and shared a smile when they realized what they had done.

"Seeing as these two do have the worst timing ever, I think we should give them a little hand don't you think?" Alexis asked when Lanie motioned that she should speak first and apparently, Lanie was thinking along the same lines.

"I knew there was a reason you and I got along so well."

* * *

**I tried my best to keep all the dialog from being boring... Don't know if I succeeded in that or not...**

**It's two thirty in the morning right now and I did go back and look over the chapter but I didn't find too many mistakes to correct so either A) I'm too sleepy to see the mistakes or B) A miracle happened and there weren't that many mistakes to start with but I'm pretty sure its A so I'm sorry for the mistakes you may see in this chapter.**

**On a different note: I finished a Castle video I have literally been working on all summer! (It took FOREVER!) Please take a look at it? It's called "Celebrating The Awesomeness Of ABC's Castle! www .youtube watch?v=l23QNho7jsE (Take out the spaces)**

**In other news... I have been introduced to the wonderful world of twitter! You can find me as hallow888 on there.**


	8. Phase One

**Isn't it amazing? You get two chapters in two days! This chapter is dedicated to all those lovely people I got to chat with on the Castletv chat (Until now my computer wouldn't let me join the chat, it has issues with java) And also to Christy who always helps me with this story when I need it.**

* * *

It was two days after Father's day, and what Alexis said was _still_ bugging him. The only time he could stop thinking about it was when he was immersing himself in the world of Nikki and Rook, which was a good thing as that meant he spent a lot of time writing. He prided himself on the fact that he knew Beckett pretty well and it was driving him insane because he couldn't figure out what she wanted to say that day. It didn't help that his 'buddies' weren't replying to his messages.

While writing a scene where Rook and Nikki realize that they are missing an important piece of evidence from their case, it suddenly occurred to him that maybe he was missing a major piece of information as well.

_If I am right, then what could I have missed? _He thought about it for a while longer before he looked at the clock and realized that it was almost four thirty, the time he usually called Alexis.

He picked up the phone, dialed her number, then waited eagerly until she picked up. They talked for a good thirty minutes as she told him all about that teacher she was getting along with so well, who was starting to sound a lot like Lanie the more she spoke of her. He talked about how his book was going, but didn't really mention Gina much as she was mostly gone all the time now that she knew he was actually working on the book. During their conversation, Castle casually slipped his thoughts about maybe he was missing something big in regards to Beckett and Alexis smiled, glad he couldn't see it.

"You might be right about that, but what could you have missed?"

"I don't know, pumpkin, but it's driving me crazy thinking about it!"

_Time to put our plan into motion. _"Why don't you just ask her then?"

She could hear him sputtering on the other end, as if he'd never thought about that. "Oh yeah, sure. I bet that will go over real well. What should I do? Call her up and ask about it? Something tells me she would just hang up on me then go back to whatever she is doing with Demming."

He sounded so sad when he said that she _almost_ gave in and told him that Kate broke up with Demming that day but she knew it wouldn't do any good to tell him right now. "Why don't you just send a text message or something? That way she can reply whenever she has the time."

"It'll be easier for her to ignore me too..."

"Dad."

"Fine, fine. I'll send her a message okay? Now enough about me, I want to hear more about you." So they talked a little longer until Alexis made him promise once more to text Kate before they both hung up.

While he did promise her that he would send a message, he didn't exactly specify _when_ he would send it so it ended up being four more days before he actually got up enough courage to send it. Sure it was only a text message, but he was dreading the inevitable dismissing text message or the equally painful no reply at all.

* * *

_"How are things going without me? The precinct hasn't burnt down in my absence, has it? Any interesting cases lately? It's completely boring up here. All Gina lets me do is write, she even took my phone away until a week ago! Is that illegal?"_

Kate Beckett stared at her phone, not knowing what to think of the text message she had just received. Kate had been sitting at her desk staring at her phone for a good five minutes or so before Alexis passed by and decided to see what was up. Carefully coming up behind the detective, sneaking a look over her shoulder, unknowingly doing something that her father did all the time.

"Hmm, is that illegal? I guess not since she really did it for his own good." Being lost in her own thoughts, Kate was thoroughly shocked when the younger girl suddenly spoke up.

"Geez Lex, are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry Kate... So?"

"So what?"

"What are you going to text back to him?"

Kate thought about it for a minute. "I don't know..."

"How about just the truth?" Someone was calling her name down the hallway. "Ah, I got to go, I'll see you later!"

Kate watched as Alexis rushed off down the hall to help out one of the officers then turned back to the phone in her hands. There was a part of her that wanted to write back but the rest of her was afraid to hear all about how he and Gina are getting along.

Then again, she didn't want him to think she was ignoring him. But he probably expects her to ignore his message anyway. And in fact, she should ignore him after he ignored her and walked right out that day but then what if this was the only chance she got to talk to him? No, there would probably be a chance to talk to him when he got back and Alexis went home. But did she really want to wait until then?

_Why do things always have to be so complicated between us?_

* * *

After finally sending the message, Castle put his phone on the far edge of his desk and started writing again, determined not to obsessively check for new messages like he did when he sent a message to Esposito a week ago.

He had gotten a whole paragraph written before his phone signaled he had a message, causing him to jump up, almost toppling his laptop, to grab it.

_"Just wanted to let you know I have a few things I need to take care of so I won't be back tonight. I will know if you slack off though, so don't even think about it."_

Gina. Damn.

He typed back a short reply reassuring her that he would be writing, then sat back in his chair with a sigh. A short few minutes later, another text arrived but knowing that it was most likely Gina replying, he didn't show as much enthusiasm while checking his phone this time.

_"Despite what you think, we can actually function without you so no, it hasn't burnt down. Esposito came close when he decided to mess with your espresso machine though. You're missing out on all the good cases. There was one where a woman went after her husband with a butcher knife, it looked like a wild animal had attacked him."_

He had to read it over two more times before realizing that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him and that she had actually replied to him. And she didn't tell him off for disturbing her and Schlemming.

Despite all the trouble he had thinking of what to say in the first place, not to mention actually sending it, it was easy to think of what to say this time.

_"Please don't tell me he destroyed it? Actually, do tell me so I can order you guys another one. Can't have you guys drinking that horrid stuff you were drinking before. I wish I had been there for that one! Did you guys really think that an animal had done it?"_

And so they talked for a long time, about anything and everything but what they really wanted to talk about. They danced around the subject of him leaving, and completely avoided talking about Demming, which was completely okay with Castle as he didn't want to hear about him anyway.

They weren't talking about the things they really needed too, but they were talking and that was progress.

* * *

Alexis walked into the decently crowded Remy's and immediately spotted Lanie in what was quickly becoming their favorite spot. Depending on how busy they were, the three women would try to meet up for lunch every other day but that didn't always happen.

"Kate isn't with you? Did she get a case or something?" Lanie asked as Alexis slid into the seat across from her.

"Nope, she just said that she had a lot of paperwork to do and asked me to bring her some food back."

The waitress came over and took their orders, leaving Lanie to wonder about the knowing smile the younger girl was wearing.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that she isn't actually doing paperwork?"

"Nope, he sure took his sweet time but dad finally texted her. After a little bit of encouragement, she replied and they've been talking for a while now."

Lanie took a sip of her drink before commenting with a smirk. "Phase one: Complete. Time to start phase two."

* * *

**Yes, I know normally people don't use correct grammar when texting but for the sake of the people who are reading this story, I figured it was best to not use normal text speak.**

**These last few chapters have been kind of short but the next one will be longer since there are quite a few things that are going to happen. (Insert evil laugh here)**

**We are getting to the good parts!**


	9. Phase Two

**My brain is so totally fried from S3 spoilers/previews/promos! I kept trying to work on this chapter but all I could see was S3!**

**Sorry, we jump around between characters a little bit in this chapter but hopefully it's not confusing.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

For the three days that she had been texting Castle, something had been nagging at the back of her mind but it took her until just now to figure out what that something was.

Kate turned her body enough so she could keep an eye on the taco meat she was cooking, but still see the young girl, who was busy cutting up onions and lettuce for their Mexican dinner on the counter behind her.

"Castle does know that you are staying with me right?" They'd talked about a lot of things but not once had he mentioned anything about Alexis staying with her.

Alexis stopped dicing the onion she was working on, and looked up at Kate with a slightly guilty expression.

"Well, I told Gina to tell him but obviously he didn't get the message."

"And you didn't think to tell him during your daily phone calls?"

"I was waiting to see if Gina would actually tell him or not. Sounds like she's been too busy partying Hampton style though."

Kate turned back to the meat, to keep from appearing too interested. "Oh?"

She didn't know it but she wasn't fooling Alexis one bit. "Yup, it apparently took a while to get him to actually work on the book but now that he's making a lot of progress on it, she doesn't stay around much. She just calls or stops by to make sure he's working."

"I thought, from what I've heard about her, that she would stay after him all summer."

Finished with the chopping, Alexis got out the dishes they would need. "She is dedicated to her job and only does what she has too. No more, no less."

"You should probably tell him soon."

"Yeah you're right. If I keep it from him too long he might not be too happy with me."

With that said, they dished up the food and sat down for a nice home cooked meal.

* * *

"How can you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Write a bestselling novel while carrying on a conversation with us."

"Multitasking my dear detectives. Just because you two are incapable of it doesn't mean I can't."

"Hey! We can multitask too!"

"Oh right, I forgot. You finally mastered walking _and_ talking at the same time."

"Ooooh, nice one bro!"

Castle smiled at the antics of the two male detectives he was currently talking to via voice chat. It was apparently an extremely slow day at the precinct and since they had found out that he and Beckett had been talking, they started talking to him as well.

"So Castle, got any big Fourth of July plans this weekend? Knowing you, you probably have something cooked up."

His fingers stilled on the keyboard for a minute. "This weekend?" He pulled up the calendar on his computer while the detectives watched him with slightly confused expressions. "Wow, where did this month go? I didn't realize that it was so close to the fourth. Guess that answers your question. What about you guys?"

Esposito's face twisted in a grimace and at Castle's questioning look, Ryan explained. "My family does a huge BBQ thing every year for the fourth. And because I didn't want to suffer alone a few years back, I conned Esposito here into going with me. Now they expect him to go every year."

"Dude, your family is freaky. And _way_ too touchy feely."

Castle snickered at the two before a thought came to mind. "Are you going to take Jenny this year?"

Clearly Ryan hadn't thought of that either. "I don't know. I guess I should, right?"

"Better say bye-bye then. She'll run screaming down the road if she has to deal with your family. Hell, I might be running with her if that aunt of yours tries to 'hug' me again."

"Oh come on, they aren't-" Ryan cut his sentence short as the phone started ringing. He quickly answered it and took down the information before hanging up.

"Sorry, Castle. Looks like we got a new case. Talk to you later?"

"Definitely. Promise to tell me if it's gruesome or weird?"

"Deal."

The video went black, signaling that they had turned off the webcam, and Castle decided it would be a good time for a lunch break.

* * *

Castle decided on a BLT sandwich and brought it out to the beach so he could enjoy the peaceful waves while having lunch. He stayed out there just watching the waves for a good hour or two before deciding he better get back to work before Gina somehow sensed he was slacking. The woman had superpowers when it came to knowing when he wasn't working so he headed back to his study and plopped himself down at his desk.

Castle placed his laptop on his lap and instantly realized there were sounds coming from it. Like any person who has dealt with annoying ads, he figured there was an ad somewhere that was making noise so he set out to find it.

Just when he was about to give up and decide that it was one of those horribly annoying ads that keep playing even if you shut down the window it's on and restart his computer, he heard very familiar voices.

"Oh man, why did this case have to be a robbery and a homicide?"

_That's Ryan's voice. Did they forget to turn the microphone off?_

"Dude, don't you know it's gotta be awkward for Beckett to talk to the robbery division since she broke up with Demming?"

Castle gasped, and nearly choked on the sudden intake of air, very grateful that he had actually turned off his microphone earlier.

"Definitely. This case is going to be a long one if we have to work with the guys in robbery but hopefully they will just send their info over."

The detectives continued talking amongst their selves but Castle tuned them out in favor of his own thoughts.

_She broke up with Demming? When? I guess that explains why she's actually been talking to me… But why? Did she break up with him, or did he break up with her? What if… What if this is the missing piece in the what-did-Beckett-really-want-to-say puzzle?_

Needless to say, Castle didn't get much writing done for the next few hours as he tried to solve this latest mystery.

* * *

All morning long Kate Beckett had been stuck filling out extra papers from their last case. Apparently, the head detective on the case, namely her, had to fill them out so while she was suffering through paper work, the boys had nothing to do. After only a few minutes of working on the paper work, it was starting to annoy her that they had nothing to do so she gathered up her papers and went down to the morgue to work in Lanie's office. It was a nice quiet place to work, if you didn't mind the occasional sound of a saw or drill being used.

So she sat there for a while until all the paper work was done and just as she was about to find Alexis so they could have lunch, her phone rang.

"Beckett."

"Yo boss, we got a murder."

_So much for lunch._

* * *

_"Hi pumpkin, I know you are probably busy with classes so I didn't call but I found out something thanks to you convincing me to talk to her. Apparently she isn't with Demming anymore! But, I don't know exactly when though."_

Alexis read the text from her father with a very Beckett like raised eyebrow. The way he said it, it sounded like Kate had told him herself but she knew that was very unlikely to happen. Still, she had to make sure.

_"Wow really? How did you find that out? Did Detective Beckett tell you that? Yeah, I'm kind of in the middle of something so I can't actually talk but texting is fine, as long as you don't expect quick replies."_

She went back to sorting the files she was working on while she waited for his reply.

_"Er well no, I didn't hear it from her directly. Ryan and Esposito told me. More or less. Oh that reminds me, what are you doing for the Fourth of July? I honestly completely forgot about it."_

_More or less? _Alexis wondered.

_"Okay then. So? What are you going to do now? And as far as I know, we aren't doing anything special. Or at least I haven't heard anything about any plans."_

_"I don't know what I should do."_

And so they talked back and forth for a while with Alexis carefully putting Phase Two into motion, and when they got off the phone, Castle knew what he had to do.

Or at least attempt to do. He had no idea what Beckett's reaction would be.

When he was talking to Alexis, it seemed like such a good idea but now that he actually calmed down and thought about it, he realized just how badly this could end.

But it was too late, the text had already been sent.

* * *

Detective Kate Beckett was taking a generous sip of her coffee when her phone signaled she had a text message. Thinking nothing of it, she picked up the phone and very nearly choked on the hot liquid when she opened, and read, the new message from Castle.

* * *

**Oooooh cliffhanger! Sorry! That just seemed like the best place to end this chapter! Next chapter we will see what Castle is planning and how Beckett reacts to his plan. *Insert maniacal laughter here* Don't worry though!**

**Also after Kate and Alexis had dinner, it skips to the next day. Just in case that confused anyone.**

**I'm on Twitter! A lot! More than is probably healthy! My name on there is hallow888 because I had an account with hallow777 but I kind of killed it.**


	10. Fireworks

**So I promised a update tonight (though it's actually early morning now...) and here it is!**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

Detective Kate Beckett was taking a generous sip of her coffee when her phone signaled she had a text message. Thinking nothing of it, she picked up the phone and very nearly choked on the hot liquid when she opened, and read, the new message from Castle.

_"This weekend is the fourth of July and I always set off fireworks but without Alexis here to watch me like a hawk, I am likely to set myself on fire. Come up and save me from myself?"_

She quickly swallowed the liquid before she really did choke on it, then read the message again. It was so completely out of the blue that she didn't really know what to think of it. Did he mean just her? Or the guys too?

Turning in her chair to look over at the two detectives who were at their own desk and called out to them. "What are you guys doing for the fourth?"

Understandably, as Beckett usually didn't asking about what they did after work, they gave her matching confused looks before Esposito answered. "Ryan is dragging me out to his families BBQ hell again this year. Why'd you want to know?"

"Uh, no reason."

"Seriously? You expect me to believe that? You never ask what we are doing if it doesn't have anything to do with work." Kate had turned around to face her computer again after speaking so she didn't see Esposito hold a silent conversation with Lanie, who had just walked into the bullpen. Lanie gave a nod showing she understood Esposito's silent request and when he goaded the female detective to turn back around, Lanie snatched her phone from its spot on the desk.

"Whoa! He sure doesn't give up on getting you to the Hamptons, does he?"

As soon as the fact that Lanie had her cell phone registered in Kate's head, she was up out of her chair and snatching the phone away from the ME faster than anyone thought possible.

"Lanie!" She all but hissed at her friend before catching sight of some uniforms bringing in the suspect she had been waiting for and hurrying into the interrogation room.

The two detectives and medical examiner watched her go in silence before Esposito spoke up.

"Fifty says she finds a way to justify not going then mopes around all weekend."

"It's not much of a bet if both players are on the same side." Ryan said with a frown.

"Heh, a hundred says she goes for the weekend. If I win you both pay me." The guys looked at Lanie as if she had grown a second head.

"You do know this is Kate Beckett we are talking about, right? Sure she was probably going to go the first time he asked, but there is no way she will allow herself the risk of getting hurt like that again."

Lanie moved over and leaned down so her face was unnecessarily close to his. "What's wrong, Javier? Scared you're going to lose?" Not letting her get to him he shot back with a smirk, "Hell no. What about you? Confident enough to up the stakes a bit?"

"Oh? What do you have in mind?"

"Loser has to do whatever the winner says. For a week."

Horrified at the thoughts of what the ME could make them do if they lost, Ryan spoke up. "Oh no, no way. Count me out on this one."

Esposito gave a shrug to his partner, not surprised that he backed out, then focused his attention on Lanie, expecting her to back out too.

"A little childish don't you think?"

"Oh no, not for what I have in mind." A devilish smirk planted itself on his face, showing that he had clearly been around Castle too long.

"Hmm…" Her eyes roamed up and down his form, clearly checking him out, until he quietly coughed to get her attention, then she made her way back up to his eyes with a smirk on her lips.

"Alright, I'm in." With that she turned around and dropped the files on Beckett's desk, which was the whole reason for the visit, and left, leaving Esposito to wonder what he was getting himself into.

* * *

To the outside world, Kate Beckett was interrogating their latest suspect as ruthlessly as always. On the inside however, she was busy thinking about that text and Castle in general.

By the time she got the suspect to confess, she still didn't know what her answer would be but she did know that she should get some more information before making up her mind.

_"And you can't have any of your other party goers make sure you don't blow yourself up? Maybe you should let someone else handle the fireworks so you don't endanger yourself and others?"_

She thought she would have a few minutes to think of what she would say when he replied but he had apparently been waiting for her reply this whole time and replied quickly.

_"Uh well about that...There kinda aren't any other party goers. I didn't even know the fourth was this weekend until Ryan and Esposito mentioned it. I would invite them too but they are apparently busy this weekend and I was hoping that you wouldn't be."_

_No one else? But, that can't be right. _They had avoided this topic every time they talked except for a brief mention in his first text, but now it had to be brought up.

_"No one else? So it would just be me, you, and Gina?"_

* * *

_"Actually, Gina isn't going to be there either. We talked earlier and since I'm actually writing without her constantly breathing down my neck, she's going to head back to the city tomorrow."_

Well, that was the short version of what happened anyway. He left out the part where she threatened some valuable parts of his anatomy if he came back to the city without a completed book. Surprisingly, it was Gina's idea to go back early but he wasn't complaining one bit. Especially since it helped give him the courage he needed to ask Beckett to come to the Hamptons again.

* * *

_"Let me think about it okay? I don't even know if I could get any more days off."_

Which was a completely lie since she never actually took Memorial weekend off but she needed time to think about it. God knows she wanted to go, but after what happened last time she tried to take that leap, she didn't know if she was ready to take that risk again. She just got her apple cart upright and here he was threatening to topple it again.

_"Of course. Just let me know when you decide so I know whether to call the fire department and warn them ahead of time or not."_

She couldn't help but chuckle a little at that. Castle and fireworks were things that probably didn't mix well, and of course they were most likely the big ones, no little sparklers for him.

* * *

While Beckett was busy talking to Castle, Lanie had made her way back over to Esposito and was leaning against his desk.

"Don't you have something better to do, Doc?"

She glanced at him then went back to watching Beckett. "Nope, not when a bet has been made. Gotta make sure our plan works out."

He stopped typing and looked up at her. "Plan? Is there something I should know about?"

"Oh no, nothing for you to worry about. Just so long as you are willing to give up your money and be my slave for a week."

"Why do I feel like you have a wild card hidden up your sleeve?"

She glanced slyly over at him. "Because my dear detective, I do."

_Note to self: Never bet against Lanie again. Ever._

* * *

**Sooooo sleepy... Yeah Esplanie (Esposito/Lanie) scenes were random... I just started typing and thats what came out...**

**Now the million dollar question: Will she go? And what 'wild card' does Lanie have up her sleeve? What tortures will she Esposito through if she wins?**


	11. Wild Card and Final Phase

**I really shouldn't have written this tonight... I have to get up really early in the morning... Couldn't decide between the titles for this chapter so I put both.**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

"Why do I feel like you have a wild card hidden up your sleeve?"

She glanced slyly over at him. "Because my dear detective, I do."

Lanie mentally chuckled as the detective paled a bit, then she caught sight of a certain red head walking towards them. _Ah, here comes my 'wild card' now._

"Hey guys, it's time for me to leave. See you tomorrow!" Alexis called out to the guys and Lanie before walking over to Kate. "I'm thinking Chinese for dinner, is that okay?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure that's fine." Kate replied distractedly, obviously still thinking about Castle's question.

"Okay then…" Figuring that she was just distracted with a case, Alexis headed out of the precinct with a final wave to the guys. She didn't even realize that Lanie was following her until they both stepped into the elevator and she started talking.

"Writer Boy asked her to the Hamptons again, under the guise of keeping him from blowing himself up with fireworks."

"Someone needs to be there to keep an eye on him. He's careful but… Let's just say he has bad luck with fireworks… So? Is she going to go?"

"I think she is going to need some help making up her mind, if you know what I mean?"

Oh she knew what she meant alright, but there was just one thing. "Won't that be a little counterproductive though? I mean, I'm not stupid. I know what you are aiming for."

Lanie eyed the younger girl for a minute. "I suppose that's true, but I'm hoping that if we can just get her up there, then they will make progress without our help. Even if it takes a while."

"Alright, tonight then?"

"Yup, don't want to give either of them time to chicken out. I have a bet to win."

The elevator dinged its arrival to the ground floor and Alexis stepped out, wondering what Lanie meant by that. But, she trusted the older woman so she didn't ask, which was probably a good thing.

* * *

_"Let me think about it okay? I don't even know if I could get any more days off."_

A good reply? Or a bad reply? Which was it? Castle wasn't sure. At least she was thinking about it, right? The only thing he knew was that waiting for her reply, which was likely to be a while, was going to be worse than waiting to see if she would reply when he first texted her.

A series of thumps could be heard above head as Gina got a head start on packing her things. It was her choice to leave but he wasn't exactly broken up about it. Despite the fact she stole his phone in the beginning, it hadn't been too bad but the spark they had just wasn't there. There had been a tiny glimmer of that spark when they had talked on that phone that night but that's all it was, a tiny glimmer.

He invited her because he didn't want to be alone and even though he would be alone after she left for a month or so, it didn't seem quite so bad now that he had something to look forward to after the book was done. With Schlemming still hanging around, he was really considering not going back even after it was done but now that he knew he was out of the picture, well there was no question on whether he would go back or not.

Now the only question was, would Beckett decide to take him up on his offer? He really, really hoped she would but, he liked to think he knew her pretty well and from what he knew, it was very unlikely that she would. Then again, she did say before that the things he didn't know about her could fill a book so maybe he wasn't completely wrong in hoping that she would agree?

Either way, wondering about it wasn't getting anything done so with a sigh, he delved back into the world of Nikki and Rook.

* * *

A few hours after Alexis left the precinct, Kate slid her key into the lock and pushed open the door of her apartment only to nearly get knocked over by the smell of delicious Chinese food being cooked.

Hanging up her coat by the door, she made her way into the kitchen where Alexis was busy making a type of stir fry but she turned around when she heard Kate walk in.

"Hey, you have perfect timing! Everything is ready, we just need some plates."

"I'll get them."

They quickly dished up the food, then sat down to eat. Normally they would talk about things that happened during the day or things they were planning to do later on but Kate was obviously preoccupied with something so they sat in silence until Alexis decided she might as well get the final phase of her and Lanie's plan going.

"I got to talk to dad earlier today. We talk almost every day but it's not the same as actually talking to him face to face, you know? I miss him a lot but geez, if we can't even last a summer apart how are we supposed to survive when I go to college? It's going to be hard for sure. Oh speaking of dad, earlier he asked if I was doing anything for the fourth. Are we doing anything for the fourth?"

Kate was silent and Alexis didn't say anymore because she knew she had already planted the suggestions in Kate's mind.

* * *

Kate knew she was being uncharacteristically out of it since she had gotten that text, but her mind was going a mile a minute, trying to come up with an answer. Every time she was close to deciding, she would come up with another reason to make her rethink her decision. Over and over again she would change her mind and she was starting to drive herself crazy. It should not be this hard to decide whether or not to celebrate a holiday with a friend.

But it was oh so much more than that. And that was the problem.

When it came down to it, yes she wanted to go. She'd wanted to a month ago on memorial weekend but that chance was taken away from her. What if something similar happened again? What if he cancelled last minute? Or what if she got up there and Gina was gone, but he had some playboy model wrapped around him? She didn't know what she would do if that were the case.,

But then, what if nothing interfered this time? A month ago she was ready to take that leap into the unknown, but what about now? Would she be able to now? Would she want to? It wasn't really a question of if she wanted to, but she honestly didn't know if she would be able to now.

It would be so much simpler if she didn't go. But if she didn't, what if he didn't come back at the end of the summer? What if even if she did go, he still didn't come back after summer? What if he finally decided she wasn't worth the trouble? What if his inspiration had run out?

_What if he had given up on her?_ And that's when she realized what was truly holding her back. For the past year the man was practically glued to her side yet he willingly walked away from her that day and, though she hated to admit it, she was afraid to find out if he really had given up on her.

_Alright,_ She thought as she sat on her couch with a plate of food in her lap and Alexis a few feet away from her on the couch. _I'm not going. I am being a pathetic coward about it, but I don't want to go up there and find out that he's given up on us, if there even was an us in the first place. So I'm going to stay right here and see what happens at the end of summer._

She sat back a little further on the couch, semi-content now that she had made a decision. At least her brain was, her heart wasn't exactly happy about this decision.

"I got to talk to dad earlier today. We talk almost every day but it's not the same as actually talking to him face to face, you know? I miss him a lot but geez, if we can't even last a summer apart how are we supposed to survive when I go to college? It's going to be hard for sure. Oh speaking of dad, earlier he asked if I was doing anything for the fourth. Are we doing anything for the fourth?"

And just like that her heart won the war it was waging with her brain; she knew what she had to do.

Here was a perfect opportunity for Alexis and her father to see each other again and she couldn't bring herself to deny the young girl this opportunity. She was still afraid to find out if he had given up or not but the sense of guilt she knew she would feel if she didn't do this outweighed her fear. She just hoped she wouldn't regret this in the end.

"Hey Alexis? How do you feel about paying a surprise visit to your father?"

* * *

**Okay, in case you didn't understand: Lanie's wild card was Alexis and the fact that she knew Kate would feel guilty if Alexis missed this chance to see her father just because she didn't want to go. As for why she didn't just send Alexis by herself or whatever, other than the fact it wouldn't be very Casketty, that will be talked about in the next chapter.**

**Soooooo, looks like Lanie is going to win the bet. Poor Esposito. I probably won't include much of what happens between them in this story but if anyone is interested in it, I might make a short side story about it.**


	12. Taking the First Step

**This chapter has got to be the hardest thing I have EVER tried to write. I started and restarted it _so_ many times, it's not even funny. Since this is a pretty important chapter, I wanted everything to be perfect, and while I'm sure I didn't achieve that, I'm finally happy with how it came out. Even if its a little on the short side.**

**This chapter is dedicated to:**

**christyvourcos (Because she is an awesome friend and is always there to help me if I get stuck and lets me bounce ideas off her if I need to.)**

**carolune04 (Because she is awesome about keeping me focused on writing. And is just generally awesome.)**

**macahol84 (Because we were talking yesterday and she guilted/inspired me into working on this chapter some more.)**

**blueEyes206 (Because she is always nice and answers a lot of my questions when I have to ask the twitterverse about something.)**

**I do NOT own Castle!**

* * *

_I will not check my phone. I will not check my phone. I will not check my phone. I will not…Ah, screw it._

Castle broke the mantra he had been saying for the past few hours and reached out to pick up his phone, confirming once again that Kate had yet to give him an answer.

With a sigh, he put his phone back on his desk, and his fingers back on the keys of his laptop. In order to keep from checking his phone constantly, he had kept himself busy by writing. A lot. Gina was going to be extremely happy with the progress he was making.

If he kept this pace up, he wouldn't have to worry about writing during the weekend. That is, if Beckett actually accepted his invitation. If not, well he would spend the weekend fully immersed in the fantasy world of Nikki and Rook to keep from being depressed.

* * *

After Alexis' enthusiastic reaction to Kate's question, they finished eating dinner and Alexis planted herself on the couch, with her laptop, while Kate headed into her bedroom.

Now that she had made a decision, or rather Alexis had made it for her, what was she going to say to him?

With a sigh, Kate fell back on the bed and laid there for a while before she finally came up with a reply.

* * *

_Red faced and pissed off, Nikki chased her prime suspect around the corner and into a nearby alley. There was a good fifteen feet between them but, despite wearing heels, she was gaining on him. The suspect got lucky and went straight through a gate at the end of the alley, stopping just long enough to lock it behind him, but that didn't stop the angered detective._

_Without missing a beat, Nikki spotted a box near the fence and stepped up on it, using it to get on top of the dumpster where she was able to throw herself over the fen-_

His fingers stopped flying over the keys as he literally jumped a foot in the air when his phone blared his message tone, making him regret turning the volume all the way up so he wouldn't miss it when finally she replied.

Eagerly he reached out to grab his phone, seeing that it was telling him he had a new message from Beckett. His first reaction was to read it immediately, but he quickly realized that he needed to prepare himself, just in case she said no. So he took a few seconds to calm down before opening the message and quickly reading it, a face splitting grin forming on his face.

"_Captain is fine with me taking a few days off, but I will only come up if you promise plenty of coffee."_

It took him just a few seconds to type out his reply.

"_I have my very own espresso machine here in the house. And if that's not enough, I'll bring you your favorite coffee from Starbucks every morning you are here."_

It didn't take her long to reply either.

"_And a bear claw?"_

"_And a bear claw."_

It took her a little bit longer to reply to that, but he was practically on cloud nine because she said yes, so he didn't really care.

"_It's Thursday now, when should I head up there?"_

Castle sat back in his chair and started typing out a reply, but stopped about halfway through when something occurred to him. They hadn't actually spoken since he left a month ago, so what were they going to do when she actually got there? Stand three feet away from each other and only communicate by text?

He erased the message he had written and instead hit number three on his speed dial, waiting nervously as it rang.

Just when he was about to decide that he had crossed some invisible line, and that she wasn't going to answer, a voice came through the phone.

"Beckett."

Being the master of the literary arts that he was, there were very few times when Richard Castle was lost for words. This was one of them.

"Hello? Castle?"

It was his decision to call her, so why was it so hard to open his mouth and coax his vocal cords into making sounds that hopefully resembled the English language?

"Um, hey..."

He could practically see her roll her eyes over the phone but he still had no idea what to say, he'd even forgotten what he called about in the first place, so he stayed silent for a few minutes.

She stayed silent too, waiting for him to finally speak but gave up after a few minutes of silence.

"Did you call just to listen to me breathe? Because that's a little too creepy, even for you Castle."

"No! Er, sorry... I just thought it would be easier to discuss plans over the phone than through text."

Finally, it seemed his brain had restarted, and he could remember why he had called in the first place.

"Okay, so when should I come down?"

After much discussing and planning, they finally agreed on her leaving tomorrow night, which was Friday, after work, then coming back on Monday. She already had Monday scheduled off anyway, so that would only put her asking for the weekend off.

Because neither wanted to accidentally say something that would tip the very unstable balance they had found, they only discussed the plan and hung up soon after everything was finalized.

* * *

Kate Beckett pulled herself out of the comfortable position she was lying in on her bed, and headed into the living room after ending her call with Castle.

Alexis was sprawled out on the couch, intently watching some video on youtube with her headphones in so Kate had to walk around to the front of her couch to get the young girls attention.

"Well you're sure happy about something, care to share?" Alexis asked when she noticed the smile on Kate's face that turned into a slight blush when she questioned it.

"Uh well, I just got off the phone with your dad. We'll be leaving tomorrow night after work so you might want to pack up some stuff tonight, if you don't want to end up doing it in a rush tomorrow."

"Really? Does he know about me?"

"Nope, not yet. It will be nice to surprise him, don't you think?"

As soon as Kate went back into her room to pack what she wanted to take, since she wouldn't really have time tomorrow, Alexis picked up her phone and sent a quick message to Lanie.

"_Mission Complete: Leaving tomorrow night. They should be good on their own now, but I'll help them along if need be."_

* * *

**Yes, it was short, I know. If I had made it any longer though, who knows how long it would have taken me to finish this chapter?**

**I have some good news though!**

**1)There will be Casketty goodness very very soon.**

**2) There will be a side story about Lanie and Esposito, based on the bet he lost in this story. However, I'm not sure when I will work on this though, probably whenever I get inspired enough to attempt an Esplanie story. (Which I have never done before) As of right now, I have no idea if this will actually turn into a story or just a oneshot or whatever.**

**3) Not sure if this is good news or not but, this story is slowly but surely coming to and end, probably 3-4 chapters left.**

**You guys know you can talk to me any time, right? You can find me on twitter as (hallow888) or on tumblr as hallow777. Come chat me up if you just wanna chat, or even if you are stuck on a story you are writing and would like some input on it. (Though, I'm not sure how much help I can be since I'm really not that good myself, but I will try.)**


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